savetheearth | [Action][Closed] Little girls shouldn't walk home in the dark.

[In light of recent mafia attacks, cutting through the playground after dark was probably a bad idea. This is exactly the kind of place where one could ambush an innocent Numbered with a less-than-innocent reputation. However, having this kind of reputation also meant he’s grown wary of crowds, so Emil decides just to walk quickly and hope he gets home without anything jumping him.

A kid is coming the opposite way. He wouldn’t give her a second thought, if she didn’t start skittering and staring at the bushes like she saw something there. Something like a mobster with a big gun and--

--ugh. Way to get paranoid over nothing, Emil. He stops a few feet away from the girl.]

You okay?

[Something chirps loudly, and Emil looks from the girl to the bushes. There’s a rustle, and a big hairy thing runs out and jumps into a different bush.]

Were you looking at that? It’s probably just a raccoon or something.

[Nevermind that it’s way too big to be a raccoon.]

EEEK!

[Oh God its a monster it's gonna eat her its.... no, it's just a guy.]

D-don't do that!

[Never mind that he didn't actually do anything. She's about to answer when WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT JUST NOW?!?

No, she's not a kid anymore. She'll be thirteen next month. That's way too old to be scared of the dark.]

I was just.... I heard a noise. Do r-raccoons even come that big?

[She's glad her voice was mostly steady. But then the bush rustles again. There is definitely something there. Something large, and hairy...]

Well, it’s a city raccoon. They have tons of trash cans to eat out of, so they get big.

[Like most people talking out of their ass, Emil sounds absolutely confident. He may be saying nonsense but he sure can sell it.

Confidence bolstered even more by the fact he’s talking to a younger kid, which clearly makes him a high authority here, he steps closer to the bush and says, in good natured condescension:]

You’re not afraid of some fuzzy animal, are you? But I’ll get it out of here if you are--

[He pushes some of the branches away. There’s one loud chirp, like a warning, and the creature zips out of the bush, bumping Emil’s side on its way. Emil stumbles back, yelping in surprise-- it hit him hard more than it has any right to, and it actually hurt!

The creature runs and jumps on a swing, its form now clear in the lamp-lit playground area. It grabs the chains and starts swinging itself, chirping as it goes in wider and wider arches. The sound is clearly threatening.

And it’s definitely not a raccoon.]

[She frowns uncertainly. He sounds pretty sure, and she'd really really like to believe him. But then he had to go accuse her of being afraid.

Which is true but still...]

I'm not afraid of some dumb raccoon!

[But then it's jumping out of the bush and HOLY CRAP THAT IS NOT A RACCOON!

She attempts to assert this point while she backs away quickly.]

Not a raccoon! That is SO not a raccoon!!

[She's almost backed her way to the bushes on the other side when another chirping sound comes from behind her. She spins around in time to see another... not!raccoon creeping out of those bushes too. It reaches toward her....]

St- STAY AWAY FROM ME!

[The strange feeling that always accompanies an echo is almost drowned in her fear. Although she can't see it, the dragonstone in her pocket activates and a flash surrounds her. When it fades, instead of a furry monster facing down a little girl, there is a furry monster facing down a dragon.]

Yeah, I GET THAT!

[Whatever the not!raccoon really is, it’s obviously bad news. Emil is busy staring at the one on the swing, he doesn’t notice Nora’s woes… until she screams.

He whirls around only to be blinded by the flash.]

UGH - what the fuuuuuuuuck.

[The glow dissipates, the world comes back into focus and suddenly Emil finds himself in a peculiar situation. It happened only once or twice in all his sixteen years: being rendered completely speechless.

That… sure is a dragon. He feels the hollow thud of an Echo, followed by the memory of some ugly green Mazoku, roaring about killing everyone before turning into a huge, multi headed dragon, taller than any building. This dragon is much, much smaller and hasn’t yelled anything, but still. It’s a freaking dragon. The girl is nowhere to be seen-- wait, did the dragon eat her?! Oh god oh god holy shit it ate her and now it’s going to eat him he should run but he can’t move oh god he doesn’t want to die like this--

Emil forgets all about the fuzzy creature on the swing, and doesn’t even notice the other one. However, swinger decides that between the large, scaly dragon and the small, soft human, it would rather go for the human. It launches itself in the air, landing right on Emil’s shoulders.]

Edited 2014-08-21 08:19 (UTC)

[Oh, that dragon will be yelling. Probably a lot. Being suddenly in a very different body is a jarring experience to say the least. As it is, Nora decides that between that and the vermedi, it's time for a good old fashioned freak out.]

Holy crap HOLY CRAP What just happened?!?

[She whirls around in a panic and actually whacks the vermedi with her tail while over turning one of the public trashcans with a foreleg. She's not used to being this large.

She'd help Emil out with his vermedi, but right now she's just trying to figure out how to move without breaking anything.]

I'm a....

Th-this is a dream right? It totally has to be a dream!

[HOLY SHIT SHE’S STILL ALIVE IN THE DRAGON’S STOMACH HOW CRUEL CAN THIS MONSTER BE oh wait no the girl is the dragon.

He should really stop meeting Numbers like this.]

If it’s a dream I’m ready to wake up now-- ACK

[He runs to the side, to avoid the swinging tail and stomping feet-- not as easy feet when there’s a Vermedi on his back, determined to screw Emil’s head off his shoulders. It’s got its arms around his neck, squeezing, and the hairs wrap around his face, getting in his eyes and mouth.

And if that’s not enough, Nora’s swinging tail flings the other Vermedi right at him.

Luckily, super strength comes in handy in these occasions, and Emil forces “his” Vermedi’s hands away, bending forward to throw it over his head. It hits the other Vermedi and they crash down in a hairy, chirping heap.]

WATCH--blergh--

[He spits out a Vermedi hairball and tries again.]

WATCH WHERE YOU’RE AIMING!

[Between him and Nora, the Vermedi are busy untangling themselves. But soon they will realize which body part belongs to who and, judging by how much noise they’re making, they’ll be coming back with revenge.]

I WASN'T AIMING!

[That makes it better right? She turns around to face the vermedi and whoops, just dented the slide.]

I was trying to- ugh, never mind! What the heck are those things?!? What should we do?

[The vermedi have finally gotten to their feet. They hesitate for just a second, then charge, one heading for each of their targets. Nora backs up again, but her tail gets tangled in the swing set. A dragon is bad enough, but a cornered, terrified dragon? That vermedi is in for a very nasty surprise.]

GET AWAY!

[She shrieks, and then fire. A lot of white hot fire jets from her mouth. That vermedi just got very crispy. Several of the bushes are gone too, but you'll have that.]

[Emil has some bleeding scratches on his shoulders and neck that he’s trying very hard to ignore. It hurts, but he already knows he can take it.]

I don’t know but we should do it before someone else shows up!

[He already got arrested for property damage once and he sure as hell doesn’t want to get caught in a wrecked playground with fuzzy monsters and a dragon. Like people need more reasons to think he’s dangerously unstable…

The place is already a mess, so what the hell-- with some effort, Emil rips a metal rod from the monkey bars and swats the Vermedi away. It’s thrown aside, rolls, stops only to lunge at him again. Emil readies the bar and HOLY SHIT A FIREBALL. He skitters to the other side of the play area, one hand shielding his face from the heat and the other waving the bar wildly. If he hits the Vermedi it’s completely by accident.]

DIDN’T I TELL YOU TO WATCH WHERE YOU AIM I’M A FLAMMABLE HUMAN WITH FLAMMABLE CLOTHES AND A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MADE OF WOOD

[Wow did she just breathe fire? She spares a fraction of a second to be impressed with herself before realizing that she might have set the park on fire. Crap. Also still a dragon. And still monsters. This is bad.]

SORRY! I DIDN'T KNOW I COULD DO THAT A SECOND AGO!!! HEY! WATCH OUT FOR-

[Well, she was about to tell him to watch out for the other monster, but then he smacked it with a metal bar.]

Oh, never mind!

[She internally debates going over there to try to help him, but she'd be almost as likely to trample him or light him on fire or who knows what else. So maybe it's better to stay still for a minute.]

[Emil can do a lot of damage with a metal bar. Facing two enemies and with its friend gone, the Vermedi decides it needs back up. Instead of attacking, it leaps around to stab a few targets and inject them. Emil tries to chase it, but the thing is just too fast.

It pushes sharp fingers through the spring riders, and they start to rock back and forth, increasing in size and growing more spring-like legs. Soon they yank themselves out of the ground to face Emil and Nora, threateningly-- an elephant, a rooster and a unicorn.

They’ve all doubled their size and grown fangs. But considering they’re still colorful spring riders, they look kind of ridiculous.]

Seriously?? This is so stupid. Uh, dragon girl? A little help here?

Oh COME ON! You have GOT to be kidding me!

[If someone had told her this morning that she'd be fighting playground equipment that night she would have laughed. A lot. And yet here she is.]

Wh-what should I do?

[Maybe the fire breath again? No, she's not sure how she did that in the first place. Plus she already lit those bushes on fire. AND they've established that the other is flammable and has like, a guitar or something that is ALSO flammable . So... no fire breath. Only one other thing she can think of then.]

DUCK!

[She spins around, whipping her tail to sweep across the enemies. Hopefully he ducked.]

[Emil ducks and covers his head with his hands, to keep the gust of wind from the swinging tail to knock his hat off. Then he peeks up and whistles appreciatively, because it’s pretty cool seeing a dragon using her tail like it’s a giant flyswatter.

Threatening chirps remind him that they also have the Vermedi to deal with. It's probably plotting to sic more enemies on them.]

Not bad. Can you cover me for like a minute? I think I can stop the fuzzy thing.

[He really wants to use magical music on the thing.]

HaHA!

[She is very satisfied with the way she just smacked all three of those playground monstrosities at once. That'll teach 'em. It's also getting much easier to move around like this the more she does it. It's hard to read dragon expressions, but she's grinning.]

Leave it to me!! I think I'm starting to get the hang of this.

[She hunches down and then pounces, almost catlike, at the spring riders. She's planing to keep them busy with tooth and claw and her very unfair weight advantage. She's inexperienced though, so whatever he's going to do, he's only got a couple of minutes at best.]

Whooooaaaa...

[Seriously, this dragon thing is badass-- oh right, he’s supposed to do something, can’t just stand there and watch.

What song should he choose? Nothing sad-- last time he tried it, it only depressed the person he was trying to help. Maybe something peaceful, then. Hoping the Vermedi has emotions to be affected in the first place, Emil pulls the violin out of the case and starts playing Schubert’s lullaby. Nice, soothing song… please let the fuzzy monster go to sleep…

It doesn’t fall asleep. It does, however, stops moving around. Listening intently, the Vermedi sits down on the ground, completely docile.

Emil, on the other hand, laughs.]

Hahaha oh man, it worked! Finally, IT FUCKING WORKED! Hey dragon girl, you can get it now!

[The thing is, though, Emil can’t really aim the music, so Nora might start feeling calm and peaceful herself.]

[That is some very soothing music. It calls back to memories of peaceful nights, all curled up and safe in your bed...

Yeah, she was also listening placidly. One of the spring riders is trapped under a claw and another one is being lazily chewed on. When he yells back to her, she drops the spring rider and blinks sleepily.]

W-wha...? Oh!

[Right, the monster. She shakes her head to clear it.]

R-right! Got it!

[She faces the dazed vermedi and hunkers down to pounce again. And just as she's about to strike...]

Ah... ah... ACHOO!

[There's that fire breath again. Whoops. That's the second furry thing she's fried tonight.]

Um, I guess that works too....?

[Emil, who wasn’t expecting another fireball, jumps back-- not an easy task when you’re balancing a giant violin over your shoulder. He trips over the remains of the slide and falls right on his back side.]

Ow-- JESUS, WARN ME IF YOU’RE GONNA DO THAT!

[He pushes himself back to his feet, wiping off dirt (and his dignity). Still holding the violin, he gives the charred Vermedi a critical look, and his face breaks into a grin. It’s hard to stay irritated when he finally succeeded in putting magical music into good use. He would never say it out loud, but it felt good to help someone with the power of music rather than just break things.]

HA! That thing won’t be bothering us again. Need help with the other thingies?

[She sniffs and wrinkles her nose.]

Sorry! I didn't know I was gonna sneeze.

[Then she looks back at the spring riders. The one she'd been chewing on is heavily damaged and won't pose any further problems. The other two are dented and and shakily trying to get back up. She regards them thoughtfully for a moment.]

I think I'm okay. Unless you have an easier way than just like, hitting them again.

Nah, I'd just hit them again.

[He approaches, courage bolstered by the fact they're still struggling to stand.]

Maybe bash them together. Or smack them with the dead one.

Works for me!

[She goes for the tail whip again. It worked last time. She whips around and sends them both crashing into the jungle gym. They're still twitching, but they don't look like they'll be getting back up any time soon.]

Ha! Take that!

[She looks pretty satisfied with herself. In about ten seconds she'll remember that she's still a dragon and that may just be a problem.]

[Emil claps politely-- that tail swing looks a lot better when it doesn't go over his head.]

Nice.

[He also looks pretty satisfied, though he looks at Nora expectantly.]

Aren't you gonna change back?

.........

[Have a looong stare.]

Um....

[She looks down at one of her claws. Twitches her tail.]

That.... is a great question.

...you don’t know how?

[Which… kind of makes sense, actually, if she just got the Echo, but making sense doesn’t make it better.

Emil looks around, taking it the ruins of the play area, the burned bushes, the charred Vermedi. Takes a few steps back from Nora and looks around again, getting a little nervous. They really shouldn’t keep hanging around here.]

Look, you better figure it out before someone shows up.

[He can already see it: “Dragon and superpowered teen destroy a playground. Teen has previous charges. Two burned monsters found at the scene, police suspects inner ‘Numbers’ feud or demonic sacrifice”. Ahhh curse his overactive imagination, time to think about something else.

Unfortunately, what he thinks about isn’t much better.]

You can change back, right?

[What if she’s stuck like this?]

Y-yeah. I'm pretty sure I can. Mostly.

[Her few memories of her past self had always involved her being at least human shaped so she must be able to turn back. Right? The question is how...]

J- just give me a minute, I'll figure it out...

[Okay, this should be easy. Just calm down... and concentrate. Yeah, that's it.

Calm.... Concentrate.....

And actually, in this case, ~~this rare, rare case~~ she's right. It is a matter of calm concentration. So after a few tense moments, a light flares up around her again and leaves behind Nora. She very tentatively waves a hand in front of her face. Just testing.]

Hey! It worked!

Edited 2014-09-04 02:18 (UTC)

[Emil throws his hands up to shield his eyes-- seriously, can’t she EVER warn before she does something weird?! But at least she can change back. He walks around her once and concludes:]

No tail or anything. It did work!

[Now time to flee the scene. He grabs her wrist and pulls.]

Now let’s get the hell outta here, if anyone asks we saw nothing and we definitely don’t know anything about ruined playgrounds and mysterious fuzzy monsters.

[She was pretty pleased with herself for a minute there. Until he reminded her what kind of situation they're in.]

Oh, holy crap! We are in like, so much trouble if anyone finds out!

[She's pretty sure destroying playground equipment is vandalism or something. And 'there were monsters' probably doesn't hold up in court. But maybe vandalism isn't bad enough for you to go to court? She doesn't know. But she definitely agrees that they should never find out. She starts running alongside him.]

At least there was no one else around...

[~~Famous last words~~ ]

Don’t jinx it!

[Emil keeps running until there’s an entire block separating them from the playground. Then he slows down to walking, trying act nonchalant. Nothing to see here, just two random kids.

Having relaxed a little, he realizes that no matter how much he tries to pretend nothing happened, he doesn’t look like it. The Vermedi’s claws tore through his sleeve and left bleeding scratches on his shoulder, and Nora’s fire breath left a faint smell of smoke. He doubts the passersby would care, but the moment he gets home...

He looks down at the wound and makes a face.]

Crap, my mom’s gonna kill me.

[Nora slows down when he does and tries her best to look casual. It would be more convincing if she didn't keep glancing behind them.]

Ugh, I know. I'll be lucky if Grandpa doesn't ground me for staying out this late. And it's not like I can tell him I ran into monsters on the way home....

[But then she notices the blood on Emil's shoulder.]

Oh my gosh you're bleeding! Are you okay?

I’m fine, it’s just a scratch.

[When you have the resilience of a Loony Tunes character, eventually you stop worrying about injuries. He knows the wound will heal completely by the end of the week, it won’t even scar. The only thing he’s concerned about is his mother’s reaction.

Grimacing, he moves the violin case’s strap to the wounded shoulder, doing his best to hide the damage.]

It doesn’t look suspicious, right? My mom knows but I don’t wanna tell her I ran into monsters, either.

[If she finds out something tried to kill him AGAIN, she won’t let him leave the apartment. She will bar the windows, change all the locks and hide the keys.]

[Nora has managed to echo herself back a ridiculous amount of energy, but she's still just as squishy and fragile as a normal girl. She frowns and tilts her head a little.]

Umm, if you cover it up it doesn't look bad but.... doesn't it hurt?

[That violin of his looks heavy. That seems like a lot of weight to put on a wound.]

It kinda hurts a lot, actually.

[He may be resilient, but he can still feel the pain. He moves the strap back to the healthy shoulder-- covering it up can wait until he’s actually home.]

Still beats explaining it to mom.

[Come to think of it…]

Ooooh, I have an idea. How about I walk you home and we tell your grandpa I helped you? Like saved you from muggers or something. Then we both have an excuse.

[She stops suddenly and turns to face him.]

Oh my gosh that is the best idea! If we do that, we both have the perfect excuse! And I bet Grandpa will call your mom and help explain things.

[Then maybe neither of them will get punished.]

And if they ask us about what the muggers looked like we can just say it was too dark to see them clearly!

[He nods enthusiastically.]

Yeah, it was dark and they had hoodies and hats and shit. It’s a flawless plan.

>[No one will ever suspect a thing ~~until the guy who filmed the whole thing uploads it to YouTube]~~

[Yeah, being internet famous is gonna put a damper on things.]

Perfect! It's totally airtight!

[Now that they have a plan, she's a lot more relaxed.]

So do you have any idea what those things were? I've never heard anyone on the network talk about furry monsters before.

Me neither--wait--

[He makes a face and runs over all the weird things he’s seen or heard about since finding the network, God knows there are a ton of these, and nope, nothing rings a bell.]

Yeah, no. I haven’t a clue. Maybe they’re possessed hairballs. You know, like that crazy car.

Oh, right! I kinda forgot about the car.

[But she frowns, something doesn't sound right about that.]

But if they were possessed like the car, wouldn't they still be actual things? Like, the car was possessed, but it was totally still a car. I've never even heard of an animal that looks anything like.... whatever those were.

They could’ve ran away from a lab. Some mad scientist doing experiments.

[Come to think of it…]

It made the spring riders come to life. Maybe that’s what happened to the car.

Hey, yeah! I bet that's totally what happened!

[Wild speculation is go!]

I bet those things are part of some kind of secret government project that got out of control!

Exactly! Which is why we have to extra sneaky. We both know what happens to innocent normal--well, sort of normal--people who get involved with secret government projects!

[Let's add some paranoia fuel to the wild speculations.]

Holy crap! If they find out we killed some of their experiments they might try to capture us! And then we'll be the experiments!

[Perfectly legitimate fear if you ask her.]

[Emil agrees, it is super legitimate and makes 100% sense. He looks around to make sure no one overhears them. When he talks it sounds like he’s trying to yell and whisper at the same time.]

Yeah, and they’ll LIKE experimenting on us ‘cause we got superpowers! So we have to keep REALLY QUIET!

[She glances around fearfully to see if she can spot any spies lurking in the shadows. ]

Shhh! I don't wanna get dissected!

[She's almost as loud as he is.]

[Emil waves his hands, still stage-whispering.]

NO ONE IS GETTING DISSECTED OKAY? LET’S JUST STAY CALM AND STICK TO THE PLAN.

[She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.]

Right. Right, we just gotta stick to the plan. Sorry.

[It has to work, right?]

[He nods.]

Right. Don't worry, it's foolproof.

[Now they better get going. Emil sets off without even asking Nora where she lives.

He's walking in the opposite direction.]</i

Right, right. We'll be fine.

[She follows him for about five steps before she realizes.]

Oh! Um, hang on. My house is actually that way.

[Action][Closed] Little girls shouldn't walk home in the dark.

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